Are these railroad spikes or something else?

[Flat Creek Finder]

This was driven in from the top to hold hand hewn beams together on an old (1800's is best guess right now) . The spike is 1/2" square , 14" in length; has barbs on the end, can't find any ID markings stamped in it. Ideas, guesses??? or maybe someone knows what it is already.

 

[davemill]

You mentioned it was holding hand-hewn beams together? I'm pretty sure that's what it was designed to do. It's a lot longer than railroad spikes that I've found, and doesn't have the characteristic overhang on one side.

 

[jimther]

Here's a link with many photos of the "typical" railroad spikes, AND some interesting items made from those spikes (knives, etc)

railroad spike - Google Search